Cheap Seats Fat Men In Skirts serves up babies with a side of incest

Welcome to Cheap Seats, where every Thursday we’ll talk to folks behind the scenes of the stage events opening around town, in order to give you a flavor of the productions that won’t be found in any of the promo materials.

Fat Men In Skirts, Mercury Players Theatre (Jan. 22-Feb. 13)

Promo pull-quote: “After their plane crashes, Phyllis, and her son, Bishop, are stranded on a desert island for five years. During their stay, Bishop is transformed from a stuttering, Katherine Hepburn-obsessed little boy, in to a feral savage who eventually rapes his mother. Phyllis devolves from a glib, callused sophisticate to a helpless, addled shell.”

What it’s really about: “This is a very Mercury play, concerning very dark subjects,” says producer Megan McGlone. “But it’s not heavy, even though it involves incest, rape, and cannibalism. It’s a very dark comedy, and it’s really fun—fun, fun with mommy fucking and baby-eating. It’s also a play about love; it’s not just a carnival of debauchery. It’s touching in that the characters have a lack of love in their lives, and they’re searching.”

Fun fact: There are actually no fat men in skirts anywhere in this play. (The title refers to a metaphor found in the production.) McGlone says Mercury’s been careful with the promo posters in order to let audiences know exactly what they’re getting. “We don’t want to get an audience expecting to see a musical revue. So we’re playing down the title, and playing up the images of what it’s really about.”

Best reason to try it: There’s a little something for everyone: Act 1 is existentialism in the vein of Waiting For Godot, Act 2 is a one-room farce, and Act 3 is a courtroom drama. The A.V. Club will be checking out the play this weekend, so look for a full review on Tuesday.